Congress’s hot August recess has begun with rhetoric to match, with Democrats pummeling Republicans for wanting to trim Social Security, and Republicans hammering Democrats for favoring tax increases.
The warring political strategies might make good theater—one of a series of hot-button issues being debated this off-season—but they could box both sides into intractable positions ahead of a major debate about taxes, spending and the deficit.
A bipartisan deficit commission is set to issue recommendations Dec. 1, and the Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire at year’s end. Many economists say any strategy for lowering the deficit would likely require some form of tax increases and a cut in benefits under entitlement programs such as Social Security, among other things.
“I just don’t know how we’re going to get to it,” said former Sen. Warren Rudman (R., N.H.), co-chairman of the anti-deficit Concord Coalition. “I have the highest regard for the people on the [deficit] commission, and I know they will come up with a number of solutions. Whether they’ll be politically palatable, I have my doubts.”
Full Story: In Congress, Heated Rhetoric Takes No Vacation – WSJ.com
A YEAR OF POLITICAL IRONY